


Rewrite the Stars

by Crystalshard



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Adorable Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV), Cliffhangers, Cold Weather, Comfort No Hurt, Corin is still oblivious, F/M, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, M/M, THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:41:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22621945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crystalshard/pseuds/Crystalshard
Summary: When the Razor Crest nearly crashes on a snowy area of a distant planet, Corin and Din set out to find some parts. They find the parts, all right, but Corin also encounters a few things he didn't expect.Sometimes it takes seeing a family from the outside before you can see it from the inside.
Relationships: Baby Yoda & Corin the Stormtrooper (Rescue and Regret) & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Corin the Stormtrooper (Rescue and Regret)/The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Comments: 44
Kudos: 280





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyIrina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyIrina/gifts).



> Many, many thanks to the delightful LadyIrina who created Corin and kindly loaned him out for us to play with. 
> 
> Please go read her wonderful series [The Mandalorian, his son and the Storm Trooper](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1560925) if you haven't already, because it is more than worth reading.

The _Razor Crest_ 's port engine coughed, sputtered, and made a final grinding noise before spitting fire and giving up. The ship, still twice Corin's height above the snowpack, abruptly succumbed to gravity and lurched sideways as it dropped its left side down to rest unevenly on its landing gear. 

The child gave a squeak of protest as the drop tumbled it over on the deck, and Corin scooped it up automatically, cuddling it into his lap. "Shhh, morut'yc, shhh," he told the little one, feeling a glow of quiet pride at remembering the Mando'a word for 'safe'. The child gave him its most innocent big-eyed look and cooed reassuringly, apparently feeling safe enough in the former Stormtrooper's arms. 

Meanwhile, Din carefully brought the rest of the ship down to join the half that had landed. Corin could hear him muttering in Mando'a, but most of what Corin - still a bare beginner at the language - could translate were the swearwords. 

With the ship safely grounded, Din sighed and briefly leaned the back of his helmet against his chair's headrest. "We're going to need parts. And maybe a mechanic," he said aloud. "Scans show a settlement southwest of here, we might find what we need there."

Corin nodded silently. 

Din looked over to Corin, his helmet dipping briefly as he glanced at the child on Corin's lap. "Better make sure the little one's wrapped up warm. It's the middle of winter in this hemisphere. And make sure you wear your armor, I don't know what you'll find out there." 

It was a struggle to refrain from rolling his eyes, but Corin managed. Just about. 

* * * 

They found the woman by following the snow tracks. Heavy-booted footprints nearly obscured by the drag marks of some large animal being hauled over the snow, the single line of scraped snow leading a direct trail back towards the settlement. Even carrying the child, safely tucked inside Corin's cold-weather coat, it didn't take them long to catch up. 

"Hi!" she called as they approached, any physical features obscured by the snow gear she wore - a mixture of old Imperial, former Rebel, and home-made. The harness she wore, cinched carefully around both herself and the large horned creature she was towing, was equally mixed. "I'm Jaycie. Are you the ones who crashed your ship and scared off all the game?" 

"It's not crashed!" Corin objected before he could think twice. "It just needs a few parts." 

She tilted her head as if she were used to wearing something heavier than the face-mask and fur-lined hood that shielded her, then nodded. "You'd better come with me, then. My husband is the local pilot, and the only mechanic you'll find within a day's walk from here. If he can't find you what you need, he'll know who has it." 

"Thank you," Din said briefly. 

Corin was about to add his own thanks, then stilled as his eyes locked onto the rifle the woman carried on her back. Without touching it, he knew how it would feel in his hands, the way it would jam if it overheated, the way the sights could never be adjusted quite right. "Where'd you get that E-11?" 

There was a moment of hesitation before Jaycie answered. "It's ex-Imperial issue, it ended up in my possession after the Battle of Endor. I modified it for hunting." 

Corin glanced at Din, to find the T-shape of the Mandalorian's helmet facing him. Din nodded, once, a slight movement that Corin understood without needing his Mando'a translator. Good. Din had suspicions too. 

"Come on!" the Jaycie called, sharing to trudge forward again. "I need to get this snow-hind hung up before the sun goes down. And you need to get yourselves and whatever's squirming under your coat somewhere warm." 

* * *

The settlement was larger than Corin had expected. Instead of going through it, as Corin had half expected to, Jaycie led them around the outskirts to two large hangars that had to have been Imperial manufacture. Time and modifications had changed them, leaving bright murals along the walls and decidedly jury-rigged alterations to the outside. 

"That's the hangar," Jaycie said. "Ask for Tor Falkas - he's my husband. I need to take this into the storage shed." 

She tromped away without a word, the half-frozen snow-hind in the harness impeding her not at all. Given that the 'storage shed' was a former hangar, and that Jaycie couldn't have filled it by herself even she'd hunted every minute of every day, she clearly wasn't the only forager the town boasted. 

"Corin?" 

Realizing that he'd been staring after Jaycie and frowning as she walked away, Corin shook his head to clear it. "Sorry. I'm coming." 

The warmth inside the hangar was a relief after the relentless cold of the outdoors. Corin might prefer snow to sand, but he was well aware that he didn't have enough warm clothing to last in it for as long as he liked. Glancing around the cavernous space, Corin's eyes widened. 

Over there, parts from a Star Destroyer's air filtration system. In another spot, fire detection sensors from a blockade runner. A communications dish from a Corellian freighter. More, so many more that he couldn't recognize, scattered around like the galaxy's most useful junk pile. And there, standing pride of place, an entirely civilian-model shuttle with the kind of seats that made Imperial troopships look luxurious. 

The child burbled, and Corin reached down to unzip his jacket to let it see out. Its pointy green ears emerged first, followed by the rest of its tiny head, and it squeaked before it turned around. Waving its stubby hands, it gazed open-mouthed at all the junk and scrap that this place held. Corin chuckled, reaching down to ruffle its fuzzy head. "Yeah, ad'ika, I know," he agreed. 

"Just a minute!" called out a voice from behind the shuttle. "I've just got to-" 

There was a clang, a click, and a satisfied 'hah!' from the unseen man. "There. Marin, kiddo, go see who it is while I wash my hands?" 

"Okay, Dad!" agreed a high-pitched child's voice. A small, dark-haired boy - maybe six or seven standard years, if Corin had to guess - darted around the shuttle, skidding to a stop as he looked up fearlessly at the strangers. 

Corin felt an odd moment of double vision as he looked at the kid. He'd never been allowed to be so careless at that age, would have been yelled at by his dad for breaking discipline like that. And yet, if he'd been allowed to grow up like this kid, how different might he have been? 

Shaking off the brief and unsettling thought, Corin found himself dropping to one knee. "Hey, kid. My name's Corin. And this is - uh - the Mandalorian. And his kid," he finished lamely. Din's name would never be Corin's to give away, as tricky as that made introductions. "We were sent to speak to Tor Falkas." 

"That's my dad." The kid took a couple of steps forward, apparently mesmerized by the shine of the Beskar on Corin's armor. "Are you a Mandalorian too? I've never seen a Mandalorian without a helmet, but Dad says they only give Beskar armor to their own people, so you must be one." 

Corin blinked, not quite sure what to make of that statement, as Din cleared his throat behind Corin. "There he is," Din said quietly, and Corin looked up to see a tall blond man with an easy, open smile striding towards them. 

Corin stood up as Din took over the conversational lead. "We're looking for Tor Falkas," Din stated, his helmet dipping in a nod. 

"You've found him." Tor held out a hand to each of them, and even reached up and shook the child's hand when he spotted it peering out of Corin's jacket. The little one giggled - a good sign, if the child liked this man. "What can I do for you?" 

"Jaycie sent us. We need parts, and maybe a mechanic to fit them." Din described the _Razor Crest_ and the damage the latest bounty hunter had done to it as Tor listened, occasionally making a note on a data pad. At one point he sent Marin to dig through a barrel of small parts in the hopes that he could find the right bolts for the job.

"Well, I've got most of what you need, though I'll have to adapt a few things and I'll need to see the damage first-hand. Might have to fly out to Pannsound to get the rest tomorrow, I'll give Maribel a call and see if she still has those thruster control rods." 

He and Din haggled amiably over a preliminary quote, landing on a number that Corin thought was fairly reasonable for a settlement like this. Which reminded him of something. 

Once the price had been agreed on, Corin asked abruptly, "Was this an ex-Imperial base?" 

Tor turned, startled, before he nodded. "Sure. We chased the Imps out just after Endor, once we'd had a chance to rebuild the fleet a bit." 

"You were in the Rebellion?" Din asked, and Corin wondered if Tor would notice the intensity in the Mandalorian's tone." 

"Sure, I was an A-wing pilot. These days, I'm the local shuttle pilot, I take people from settlement to settlement and I do the mail deliveries whenever the courier ship lands." 

"So, you married a local?" Corin asked, not sure why the question was so important. 

Tor laughed. "No. I married a Stormtrooper." 

* * * 

Corin still hadn't managed to make the idea fit inside his head by the time Jaycie arrived, divested of snow-hind and harness. Marin ran straight to her, and she smiled wide and happy as she picked up her son and settled him on her hip. 

With her mask off and her hood down to let her profusion of dark curls tumble loose, she didn't look like a former Stormtrooper. Those curls would have been entirely against regulations, as well as a severe problem under the Snow Trooper helmet - and the juxtaposition of son and Stormtrooper wouldn't mesh no matter which way Corin bent the facts. Even so, it made more sense than _husband_ and Stormtrooper. 

"You should stay in town," Jaycie directed. "It's not far to the local inn, and we don't get many visitors at this time of year. I'll guide you there."

Tor pulled Jaycie and the boy in her arms into a hug. "I have to finish up a few things here, love," he said, nuzzling contentedly at his wife's hairline. "You and Marin go ahead." 

"You had better be home for dinner," Jaycie mock-threatened, dropping a kiss on Tor's cheek. 

He chuckled, reluctantly releasing her and Marin from his embrace. "I can't be late, I'm the one who always cooks!" 

"Not today!" Jaycie said triumphantly. "I dropped off one of your frozen pies at the baker's this morning. I'll pick it up on the way home, so you'd better be there before it gets cold."

"Yes, sir!" Tor said, snapping a playful salute at her. Jaycie laughed, blew a kiss, and turned to Din and Corin. "Come on, boys, let's get you and your kid somewhere you can rest." 

Reminded, Corin zipped up his coat again as they stepped out of the door. Marin dashed off ahead as soon as Jaycie set him down, Din following him at the Mandalorian's usual firm pace. It made it easy for Corin to fall in beside Jaycie, matching her steps as if he were on a parade ground. "Did you ever manage to fix the sights on that E-11?" he asked. 

Jaycie, her hood back up again, looked at Corin with surprise and then realization in her eyes. "Yeah, I - wait. You, too?" 

"Ex-Snow Trooper," Corin admitted, and something in him that had been tense up until now relaxed. He wasn't alone. He'd never considered that there might be other former Troopers out there, leading ordinary lives, but here was one in the flesh. If Jaycie could leave all that behind her, then maybe Corin would have the chance to do the same one day. Although he couldn't see Din retiring, so - maybe being bounty hunters together, maybe that would work. Him, and Din, and the child, travelling the galaxy and using their hard-won skills together. 

Jaycie laughed. "So was I! What designation were you? CN-something?" 

"CT. Corin was my name before I became a Trooper." 

Jaycie stumbled on nothing for a moment before catching herself and falling into step again. "You remember yours?" There was a hint of envy in her tone. "I don't. I was JC-657, so Tor named me Jaycie. I like it. It's my name now, not my designation." 

There were depths there that Corin had no desire to fall into, and he searched desperately for a way to redirect things. "The Mandalorians have a saying - 'No-one cares who your father was, it's the father - or parent, I guess, it's the same word for father and mother - that you'll be that's important.' Maybe for people like you and me, it's not about who we were. It's about who we are and who we become." 

A slow smile curved on Jaycie's face. "Huh. I like that. Maybe you're right. I want it to be true, and Tor - Tor's still teaching me that what I want is important as well. I'm still learning, but maybe I'll get there one day." 

"Maybe we both will," Corin agreed. 

The moment was broken as Corin felt a shift against his chest and a tiny three-clawed hand pressed against the base of his throat. It took him a great deal of self-control not to yelp at the chill, Corin's arms flying up instinctively to embrace the child tucked trustingly against his chest. 

"How long have you been cold, huh?" Corin asked, not expecting an answer as he tried to send warmth into the child by sheer will. 

"Don't worry, it's not far," Jaycie reassured him, picking up her pace to something nearer double-time. "I'm not going to let your child freeze." 

* * *

The warmth inside the inn hit Corin like a very welcome wall. The child squealed in what Corin assumed was glee, immediately struggling to be set down. Corin compromised by walking them over near the crackling fireplace (actual wood, not a heating unit!) and sitting down, undoing his coat once again in order to gently rub the child's chilled limbs. 

Corin glanced up to see Din looking at the kid, his helmet tilted in the way Corin had come to recognize as fondness. Well, the kid was pretty damn adorable. 

Jaycie, meanwhile, was greeting the innkeeper, a lean, sharp-eyed human woman who pulled Jaycie into an all-encompassing hug. "Hi, Sathis. I brought you some guests."

"I can see that," Sathis agreed, releasing Jaycie as Marin disappeared through a door marked 'Staff Only'. "Did you also bring me that snow-hind leg I asked you for?" 

"Tomorrow," Jaycie promised. "It's currently hung in the storage shed, I've made sure that they know you're due a hindquarter." 

Sathis put her hand to her forehead in over-acted disbelief. "What's this? You actually managed to aim well enough to shoot something? Will wonders never cease." 

Corin frowned, absently shielding the child from a spark flying out of the fire. He wasn't sure he liked this innkeeper, if she could be so rude to someone who was clearly doing her job well.

Instead of being insulted, however, Jaycie laughed. "Well, it wouldn't matter if I did or didn't manage to hit something. It's not like that leg would come out edible after being in your kitchen." 

Sathis clapped her hand to her heart and chuckled. "Ouch. Game to you, Jay." She turned to observe Din, who was leaning deceptively idly against the reception counter, and then to Corin and the child by the fire. "So, who are these boys?" 

"Out-of-towners, they need somewhere to stay while Tor fixes their ship. Do you still have the family room open?" 

Corin opened his mouth to protest, then remembered the first Mando'a phrase Din had ever allowed him to translate and shut it again. Family. Yes. The thought made a kind of warmth spread through him that had nothing to do with the nearby fire. 

"Of course I still have the family room, the only people here right now are those fur traders who turn up every year." Sathis winked. "I'll even let them stay for local rates, since they're friends of the best hunter in Iron Ridge." 

Din's shoulders relaxed minutely, though Corin wasn't sure what exactly had caused it. Probably the implication that there were no bounty hunters here, if the only people staying at the inn were known to the locals. 

"In that case, I shall leave them in the hands of the best _cook_ in Iron Ridge and go find my son before your assistant stuffs him to the point where he won't eat his dinner." Jaycie flicked a lazy salute at Sathis and disappeared into the same doorway Marin had vanished through. She re-emerged moments later, trailed by an unrepentant boy with food stains around his mouth. 

"Give my love to Tor, and tell him that the snow-bike's been working perfectly ever since he fixed it," Sathis told the pair. Jaycie waved in acknowledgement as she and Marin left, and Sathis turned to Din.

"Mandalorian, eh?" she said thoughtfully. "You'll want your meal in privacy, then. I'll show the three of you to your room - there's a folding cot in there that the child can sleep in - and then I'll have Anbel bring some food up for you. I can set up one of the tables down here for your husband and son. Does that suit you?" 

"That's fine," Din said as Corin tried to find the right words to correct Sathis's misapprehension. "Let's go." 

Corin still hadn't managed to form full sentences by the time that Sathis had shown them upstairs like a very efficient whirlwind. It was only when the door closed behind her, with the promise of dinner as soon as she could get it on the table, that his tongue untied itself. "Din, she - why didn't you tell her that we're not married?" 

Din shrugged, apparently unbothered by the entire thing. "It wasn't worth arguing. We're unlikely to return here, so it won't matter." 

Disarmed by Din's logic, Corin gave in with a helpless shrug. 

* * * 

Warm, comfortable, and full of excellent food, Corin was only vaguely aware of a thump on the floor and the familiar patter of tiny green feet. Beside him, stripped of all armor except his helmet, Din sighed. "Little escape artist got out again." 

The blankets shifted, tugging away as the child used them to climb onto the bed. There was a dip next to Corin as the mattress bent under the slight weight, then the sharp prickle of claws as the child crawled determinedly over Corin to flop between him and Din. "We need to get the kid used to sleeping alone," Corin mumbled, although he couldn't think of a good reason why at that precise moment. 

"Mmmm." Din shifted, his shoulder coming to rest solidly against Corin's. 

Corin was too tired to tense up, sleep a far more seductive lure than the demurely clothed warmth of Din's skin, and he hummed back in contentment. He wasn't sure when he fell into dreams, but he was sure that no figment of his imagination could be better than reality right now. 

Corin was entirely unaware of Din shifting once more in his sleep, or of the arm that came to rest over his torso. He didn't know that the child had shuffled down to rest its head on Din's thigh, or that it wore a remarkably smug grin for a small green toddler. 

He'd find out in the morning, though.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many, many thanks to Copper for the character of DR-1V.

Corin woke up warm and comfortable, with a firm weight over his chest and a line of heat all down his side. Drowsily turning his face into the warmth, Corin inhaled clean sweat, metal, blaster oil, and the indefinite scent of _home_. 

Humming in satisfaction, Corin nuzzled closer, and then blinked his eyes open as his forehead met cool metal. His warped reflection stared back at him from the front of Din's Beskar helmet, muzzy and confused and broken by the thick T-shape that let Din see out. 

His sleep-fuzzed mind was still trying to decide what to do next when there was a sharp rap at the door and a cheerful voice called, "Good morning! If you want breakfast, I will be serving it for the next hour." 

Din groaned, the sound resonating oddly from how close Corin's ears were to the helmet, and the warm arm that had been tucked over Corin slid away. Corin considered dragging it back for all of two seconds before he was distracted by the child's sleepy squeak. 

"Yeah, okay," Corin said aloud, pulling back his half of the covers with a reluctance he wouldn't admit to. "Breakfast it is." 

Corin fished the child out from the rumpled blankets, and looked over at Din as he straightened. Din was still curled on his side, his helmet a fitting incongruence against the clothes he wore to sleep in. As Corin watched, Din rolled onto his back and lifted his arms above his head, stretching in a way that made his shirt slip away from the waistband of his pants to reveal a golden stripe of firm muscle. Corin couldn't help but trace the exposed skin with his eyes, hunger bubbling up slowly as he imagined touching it, tasting it . . . 

The child cooed in Corin's arms, breaking the spell and bringing Corin back to the wider universe. He coughed, flushed pink, and gently deposited the child next to Din before making a break for the 'fresher. The shower water sprayed cold before it warmed up, but right now? That was a bonus. 

When he emerged, cleaner and feeling almost ready to meet the day, Din was fully armored and was playing some kind of game with the child that involved it bouncing on the bed. Corin couldn't help chuckling at the sight, and both participants turned around at the noise. The child jumped once more and, in defiance of the basic laws of physics, sailed across the room to land in Corin's arms. 

Corin caught the child automatically, then raised an eyebrow at Din. He wasn't entirely sure if this was the first time that the child had shown this particular Force power, but it was definitely the longest leap it had made that he knew of. 

Din glanced at the bed, then back at Corin, the slight lift of his helmet suggesting that he was re-tracing the arc that the child had made to get to the former Stormtrooper. Then Din shrugged, gloved hands turning palm-up to indicate his own confusion. 

Oh well. They'd manage it, somehow. Meanwhile, Corin's stomach was starting to rumble, and he was reasonably sure that Din must be getting hungry too. "I'll ask Sathis to bring you something, okay?" 

Din nodded silently. 

* * * 

There was a familiar face waiting for them when they reach the main room downstairs. Tor Falkas waved cheerfully to them from his seat at one of Sathis's sturdy tables, a near-empty mug of caf clasped in one hand and a broad smile on his face. There was also a child seat set up next to the table, and even Corin could take a hint when it was that obvious. 

Corin settled the child into its place before sitting opposite Tor. "Hey, good morning." 

The child chirped as well, and Tor ran a fatherly finger over its ears to the child's audible delight. "Morning, Corin. Before you ask, I flew out to Pannsound this morning, and Maribel did have those thruster control rods and a couple other items that you might find handy. It's all in the shuttle, ready to fly when you are." 

"Thank y -" Corin began, only to be distracted by the aroma from the plate of food that Sathis had just plunked down in front of him. The child squeaked in glee and began shoving breakfast down its throat as fast as it could swallow. 

"He's one of the cutest kids I've ever seen," Sathis said fondly, a smile on her lips and a touch of sadness in her eyes. "Easy, little one, I cut yours up small but that does not mean you should choke yourself." 

The child paused to trill at her, then kept stuffing its face. 

Sathis laughed. "All right. And you, ah -" 

"Corin," he supplied, remembering belatedly that Jaycie had never actually given Sathis their names. 

"Corin, thank you. Did you sleep well?" Sathis moved around the table to pour Tor a fresh cup of caf, and in the quiet Corin's ears picked up a faint mechanical whine coming from somewhere near the floor. 

"Yeah, the bed was really comfortable," Corin assured her. "Could you have breakfast for - uh, the Mandalorian - sent up to the room, please?" 

"Don't worry," Sathis reassured. "I know Mandalorian ways. I sent Anbel up with a tray once I spotted you down here." 

"You do?" Corin's brow furrowed. "I wouldn't have thought you'd get many Mandalorians up here."

"Oh, I haven't spent all my life here on Borren," Sathis said serenely. "I travelled a lot when I was younger. Even met a Mandalorian or two." She winked at him and moved off, the servo noise following her as she moved away. 

Tor must have caught the direction that Corin was looking in, because, he said, "It's her foot." 

Corin's attention snapped back to the blond pilot. "Her - oh. Sorry, I shouldn't -"

Tor waved the apology away. "It's okay, she doesn't mind people talking about it. Says it saves her the hassle of explaining it to every - um, everyone who asks." 

Corin's tense shoulders dropped an inch or so, and he belatedly remembered the plate of food in front of him. Honestly, it was a shame that Din couldn't share breakfast with them, because the smell was amazing. "Oh?" he asked hopefully, picking up knife and fork. 

Chuckling Tor leaned back with his caf. "Yeah. She lost it before she came to Borren, had it replaced with a cybernetic one. I don't think any of us hear the noise anymore." 

* * *

When the four of them left the inn, the child wrapped up warm and safe in tiny coat and hat that Tor had provided, it was snowing. With the child tucked inside Corin's jacket, Corin lifted his hand to the snowflakes, catching them on his gloved fingers and watching in fascination as they sparkled there. 

It was a short trek back out to Tor's warehouse and repair shop. Tor had parked the shuttle outside the hangar, the gleaming black bulk of it softened by the thin drifts of snow that had collected on it. On spotting the coat of ice over the cockpit's transparisteel windows, the pilot sighed and motioned them into the back of the shuttle. "Go ahead and strap in. I need to de-ice this thing before we can take off." 

The shuttle's ramp lowered itself invitingly, and Corin didn't hesitate to get the child into its marginally warmer shelter. It was going to be a long day, and he intended to save his energy for the destination. 

Din strode into the shuttle after Corin, then stopped so abruptly that Corin nearly got sympathetic whiplash. "Din?" Corin asked quietly as he strapped the child into the raised seat Tor must have set up for it earlier. "What is it?"

"That's a droid." Din's voice was flatter than synthesizers could ever make it. "I don't like droids." 

Corin looked into the shadows - and yes, tucked behind the pilot seat and half-hidden by the boxes of parts that took up most of the passenger space, there was an astromech droid. It was painted a shiny if dented black with neon-blue accents, and it seemed to rouse as they looked at it. The light at the front of its dome flickered between red and blue. "Whee whistle bip!" 

"DR!" Tor reprimanded from behind Din. "You can't call him rude and then turn around and insult him!" 

The droid - DR, apparently - screeched one more whistle at Din, then shut down in an apparent sulk. 

Tor shook his head as he walked up the ramp and pressed the button for it to retract. "Sorry about that. DR-1V has opinions." 

Din huffed and went to strap himself in next to the child, the angle of his helmet suggesting that he was keeping a sharp eye on the little astromech. Whether it was due to Din's focus or for reasons of its own, the child also seemed to be paying most of its attention to DR. 

Corin positioned himself on the other side, sandwiching the child between them and taking the opportunity to watch the world outside the window. He couldn't see much beyond the gently whirling flakes, but that didn't matter. He wasn't shoulder to shoulder with other Troopers in white armor, jammed in tight enough that they nearly had to take turns breathing, but comfortably seated next to - to his family. Corin smiled at the thought, stroking a gloved finger over the child's little nose. 

The child giggled, then went back to staring at DR. Tentatively, a tiny three-fingered hand lifted and waved at the droid. 

DR tilted its chassis back in what Corin read as surprise, then slowly extended its manipulator arm and waved back. 

Tor brushed by him and settled into the pilot seat, his fingers dancing over the buttons with the ease of familiarity. "Okay, DR, light 'em up!" 

The engines roared low as they burst to life, the shuttle lifting off gently with its passengers and cargo. 

* * *

It wasn't long before the shuttle came to rest next to the damaged _Razor Crest_. Corin, still looking out of the window, could see the damage and winced. 

Din must have been looking too, because he wrapped a reassuring hand around the back of Corin's neck. Corin spared a moment to wish for Din's ungloved hand on his bare skin, then forced himself to listen. 

"It's not as bad as it looks," Din murmured. "She's a tough old ship, probably more repair than original by this point. We'll get her fixed up and on our way." 

Corin sighed and turned away from the window, leaning his forehead into Din's helmet and lifting his own hand to the back of Din's collar. "I know. I just - I don't like seeing her like that. Like she's vulnerable." 

Din snorted under the helmet. "Only if there's Jawas around." 

The reminder made Corin chuckle. Din had told him about the Jawas, how they'd stripped his ship and forced him to go on some ridiculous quest to get the parts back. If the _Razor Crest_ could come back from that, she could come back from anything. 

Behind them, the loading ramp descended to the snow-covered ground, and Tor coughed from the pilot seat. Corin reluctantly lifted his head away to see that the blond man was looking over at them and attempting to suppress a smile. "You might as well go ahead, I'll catch up with you once - wait, isn't that your kid?" 

Both Din and Corin looked down, nearly bumping foreheads again in their hurry to check, and found that the straps that Corin had fastened securely around the child were loose and empty. 

A delighted coo from the ramp had them both looking towards the open hatch, and Corin took in the sight of the child toddling determinedly for freedom. Corin's fingers were fighting with his own straps before he even knew he'd moved, Din struggling similarly beside him. 

Before either of them could force panicked fingers to cooperate, DR-1V detached itself from its interface port and raced to the back of the ship. Chirping at the child, DR circled in front and held out its manipulator arm to block the child's passage. 

The flight straps came free at last, and Corin vaulted over the seats to swoop the child into his arms. "Hey there, ad'ika, don't wander off like that. Okay?" Corin asked, bouncing the child gently against his chest. 

The child cooed, then stretched out a longing hand to the open hatchway. Below them, DR trilled. 

Reminded, Corin dropped to one knee. "Thanks, DR." 

R-series droids couldn't shrug, but DR managed to do a very good impression of one anyway. "Weeble cheep." 

"DR says you're welcome," Tor called from his seat at the front. "He likes kids, he was practically Marin's nursemaid when he was small. Jaycie calls it the 'mother hen' protocols."

Corin glanced back at Din, who by now was standing in the narrow aisle. The Mandalorian had his arms crossed, posture tight and defensive, before he sighed and fell into a looser stance. His hands spread, much as they had that morning when the child had demonstrated his Force-assisted jumping powers, and he nodded. 

Smiling, Corin turned back to the patiently waiting droid. "Okay, then. Why don't you and I teach this little one how to play in the snow?" 

DR whistled enthusiastically. 

* * *

Corin knelt and patted another handful of snow onto the crudely-sculpted snow figure. He'd intended it to be a copy of the child, but it seemed that the kid was far more interested in making a sculpture of Din, Beskar and all. Not far away, DR was using its chassis to roll another snowball that would become Din's head. 

The warmth in Corin's chest spilled over. How this little one had wriggled its way so deeply and inextricably into his heart, Corin didn't know, but he was very, very glad it had. Corin impulsively tugged the child close, pulling down his face mask to land a kiss on its hat-covered forehead. The child reached up to tap Corin's cheek in return, its tiny hand warm from the exercise even with the way it had been flinging snow around. 

"Corin!" Tor called from his perch on top of the damaged engine. "We could use your help with lifting this piece up." 

"Be right there!" Corin shouted back, turning to spot DR still trying to roll a snowball. "DR, can you look after the child for a bit? Take him inside if he gets too cold." 

DR whistled an affirmation, turning its dome to look at Corin before pushing the ball over to the child. 

Joining Din on the ground by the engine, Corin could see the part that was causing the issue. A long, heavy support strut leaned against the engine, its forty-five degree bend making it too unwieldy even for one strong bounty hunter to lift. Corin lent his muscles to the job without a word, taking his share of the weight and preventing the bar from twisting away from Tor. It took a moment, but then Tor got a good grip on it and pulled it over the upper hull plating. 

"That one next," Din said briefly, pointing at a box that held several curved pieces of metal. Corin brought it nearer, nearly dropping it when Din crouched beside him as he laid it on the ground. 

"Is something wrong?" Corin whispered. 

"Are you sure we can trust them?" Din asked, his voice equally quiet through the modulator. "There's nothing but a droid looking after our son, and we don't know what's in his programming. Or much about any of these people." 

Corin bit his lip and thought about it. His first instinct was to run over to the child and pick it up, carrying it away from any potential danger, but he could still see the droid and the child playing together. There were no childish noises of fear or alarm, just giggles and electronic chirps. "They've been helping us, Din. They - they don't owe us their life histories. I don't need to know where Tor found DR, or why Jaycie married a Resistance pilot, or how Sathis ended up with a cybernetic foot. Everyone we've met here has been built into the community for years - it'd be hard to fake that. So, do I trust them to look after the kid and deal fairly with us? Yeah. I think I do. DR's got more personality than some of the Stormtroopers I used to work with." 

Din sighed, then nodded. "All right. Good spot on Sathis's foot, by the way." 

Warmth curled up Corin's cheeks, thankfully hidden by the snow mask. He was starting to see the attraction of covering his face, Mandalorian style. "Tor had to tell me what it was." 

"But you noticed it," Din repeated. He pulled Corin into another Keldabe kiss, and even through the mask Corin could feel the chill of the Beskar. 

"You still down there?" Tor called from above, startling them both out of the private little world they shared. Din and Corin straightened their bent knees, the move bringing their heads up to a point where Tor could apparently see them. "Ah, there you are. Listen, there's a lot of metal here that's warped but otherwise good, and a few bits and pieces that I can reuse. If you'll let me have the good stuff, I'll haul away all the scrap for free, including the stuff that's fried past use." 

"Only if I get to check every piece you take away," Din said, helmet tilted warily.

There was laughter in Tor's voice when he replied. "Deal. Say, are all Mandalorians this possessive, or just the ones I've met?"

"Not possessive. Cautious," Din said flatly. Corin could understand - if you'd had your ship dismantled once, you wouldn't want to lose perfectly good bits along with any genuinely damaged parts. 

Tor's pause said rather eloquently that he didn't actually believe Din, but all he said aloud was, "Relax, Mando. I wouldn't do anything to hurt this old lady." 

The rest of the parts were handed up in silence. Din climbed up to observe Tor's work, probably scanning for any bugs that the pilot might have planted as he went, leaving Corin to wander back to where the child and the droid had been playing together. 

There was no sign of either, but the snow sculpture - no, the snow _sculptures_ \- were finished. 

On one side, Din, the snow formed into a rough but unmistakable facsimile of his armor. On the other - another figure, equally as tall, with a smile carved into its face. Between them, a small lump of snow with a round head and two scrap-metal ears pressed unevenly into its sides. 

All three of them. 

Corin refused to cry in weather as cold as this. 

Instead, he trod back into the shuttle, where the child was napping on one of the seats. DR had pulled a blanket over the sleeping baby, and was clearly on watch for any hostiles that might hurt its charge. 

Corin tossed a grateful salute at the astromech, receiving an equally silent flicker of red-blue in return. 

* * * 

Tor had packed lunch for the four of them, and Corin left the child slurping down his portion under DR's watchful sensors while he left the shuttle to bring Tor and Din their own meals. 

"Hey, thanks Corin!" Tor called as he caught the parcel that Corin threw to him. "Good timing, this resin needs to set before we can continue." The pilot swung over to the ladder that was magnetized to the side of the engine, descending easily even with one hand occupied. 

"I could hurry it up," Din suggested, lifting one flamethrower-equipped vambrace. 

"Don't you dare," Corin retorted, throwing the second packet at Din rather harder than he perhaps needed to. "Weather like this, you need to take a break and refuel. Cold eats energy, I'm not having you fall over because you want to keep working instead of eat. Tor and I can go eat in the shuttle. You use the _Razor Crest_." 

Din tilted his head a little, then descended the ladder with no further arguments and vanished inside his ship. Tor, meanwhile, chuckled and thumped a friendly hand into Corin's armor-clad back. "Snow Trooper, right? Jaycie's the same way, she taught me about snow survival our first winter here. Glad he's got you looking out for him." 

Corin squashed the moment of instinctive panic. Tor had married a Stormtrooper. If there was ever someone who wouldn't judge Corin on his past, it was the man walking back to the shuttle with him. 

That thought, perhaps, was what gave Corin the courage to bring up the subject - one that he'd told Din he didn't need to ask about. When the hatch had sealed behind them, cutting off the icy wind that stole any bit of warmth it could find, Corin broke open his own lunch and wondered how to bring up the subject. 

"Jaycie or DR?" Tor asked out of the blue. 

Startled, Corin met the pilot's smiling blue eyes. "Sorry?" 

"Jaycie or DR, " Tor prompted. "You looked like you wanted to ask a question, and odds were that it was going to be one of them." 

"Oh." Had he been that obvious? Uncle Vecon would have clipped him around the ear for giving away so much in his expression. "Uh, DR." Corin covered his discomfort by taking a bite of his lunch. 

"Because A-wing pilots don't have onboard astromech droids," Tor filled in. "DR - yeah, he was a Resistance droid. He was a backup to one of the X-wing pilots who didn't make it through the Battle of Jakku. There was - okay, time for a bit of personal history. One of my friends ended up in Medical, and I got to know one of the droids who looked after her. TRE-33. I called them Tarry. 

"When Piter didn't come back from the battle, DR got depressed. Tarry came to find me, because they could fix humans, but a mourning droid was beyond them. So, you know, I couldn't use a droid myself, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try. 

"DR . . . woke up, after a bit. Started following me around when I was in the hangar working on my old A-wing. He even went out on a few flights, and I was biting my nails hoping he'd come back. By the time I left, I figured he'd be happy enough with another pilot." 

"But?" suggested Corin, licking his fingers to get the last crumbs. 

"But about four months after I came here to stay, my old friend from the Resistance dropped by. She'd found work as a courier pilot, and she'd brought me a present. DR-1V. I was so happy to see that droid, but he was just annoyed that I'd gone without him. Took him a week to stop beeping insults at me. I think Marin was the one who won him over - Marin was only a baby then, and Jaycie and I needed all the help we could get." 

Corin frowned. "Wait. How old is your kid again?" 

To Corin's surprise, Tor flushed red. "He's five. The Resistance cleaned out Borren not long after Jakku, and that's when I fell in love with Jaycie. Ten months after that, I came back, only to be presented with my newborn son. Heck of a shock, but a good one." 

"Ah. Okay." Corin flushed a little too. It had been far too personal a question. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." 

"It's okay." Tor shrugged, balling up the wrapping from his own meal and tossing it accurately into the waste disposal. "I wouldn't have answered if I didn't want to. Anyway, everyone on Borren knows my story." 

There wasn't much Corin could say to that, so he glanced over to where DR-1V was trying to mop the child's messy face with a clean rag. "So, um, what's with his designation? I thought R-series droids were all R2 or R3 or something." 

Tor looked fondly at DR, his eyes softening and that kind smile curving his lips again. "He's a prototype R3 model - the 'D' stands for 'demo', the 1V is 'first version'." 

Well, that was simpler than Corin had expected. 

The shuttle hatch whirred, opening to reveal Din. "We should get this job finished," Din said without preamble. 

Tor merely shrugged and pulled his face mask up again, trotting down the ramp to join the impatient Mandalorian. "Come on, DR," Tor said to the droid. "I'm going to need your tow cable for the next bit." DR left off trying to clean the child up and trundled past Corin, handing over the rag as he passed. 

Looking back at the child, Corin shook his head at the mess and went to clean up the squirming green bundle.

* * * 

DR pulled the last of the containers into the cargo space behind the shuttle's seats, auto-locking arms rising from the shuttle's deck to secure the boxes in place. With a good number of the biggest pieces now installed on the ship, the remains packed relatively neatly into the three cargo containers that DR had hauled back to the shuttle. Corin was impressed at the astromech's strength. 

Tor and Din followed the little droid in, brushing at the accumulated snow that had settled on them. Corin had to stifle a laugh at the sight of Din with snow piled on top of his helmet, the sound fortunately covered under the hiss of the rising ramp sealing with the shuttle's hull. 

As promised, Din checked over every bolt and wire and metal sheet that Tor had classified as 'scrap'. Bent over the open boxes, Din methodically sorted through the parts, asking the occasional question and watching as Tor turned over pieces to show the blaster-melted sides. 

Eventually, Din closed the lid of the last box. "I can't find anything in those boxes that shouldn't be there. You've honored your word, and you can keep what's in here along with your payment. We need to be going." 

Tor shook his head. "Look, Mando, we've been out here working in the cold all day. Corin's right - cold drains you, and night comes fast here. You three should stay another night in a proper bed and get a good meal down you. Fly out like this, you're looking at exhaustion and slowed reflexes at best." 

"Wouldn't that also be true for you flying the shuttle back?" Din asked neutrally. 

"It would, but I'm used to it. Also, it's not that far back to Iron Ridge." 

Din's helmet turned to face Corin, and Corin nodded. "All right," Din said, flopping bonelessly into his seat. That, more than anything, told Corin how tired he was. 

* * *

The next morning, they walked back to the _Razor Crest_ with Jaycie. Tor had offered to fly them back, but Jaycie had tartly informed her husband that she'd had enough problems with terrified wildlife, thank you very much. 

At the ship, Jaycie pulled Corin into a hard hug as Din took the child inside. "You look after them, you hear me?" she said into his ear. "Men like Tor and your Mando, they think that just because they're used to one environment they can cope with anything. You need to be there for problems they can't solve in the way they're used to. Make sure the kid knows he's loved. And yes, I know what we were, I am aware of the irony."

Corin hugged her back. "I will. I promise." 

* * *

That evening, a pair of heavy, armored boots thumped across the floor of Sathis's inn. They were trailed by a lighter step, smaller boots that sat below supple black trousers and a cream-colored shirt. A blaster hung easily against the hip of the smaller figure, while the armored and helmeted figure wore a familiar, fork-ended rifle over their back. It was the near twin of the one that a recent guest had worn, so casually that most people hadn't noticed it was there. 

Behind the reception desk, Sathis stilled. "Mercy. An-Taza." 

A cool voice came from beneath the Beskar helmet, flattened by in-built modulators. "We're looking for the Mandalorian and the asset." 

"And," added the smaller figure, "CT-113."


End file.
